James Baldwin wrote," As long
as you think you're white, there's no hope for you." That may be motivation
enough for taking another cut at this most American of problems - the belief
in the existence of races. I will try to offer some more motivation as we go
along.

Graphic: Racial and Ethnic Relations, 7th edition

There
are No Races
So, there are no races. There is nothing in the flesh of human beings that supports
a separation of people into racial categories. There is no white race, nor any
other. There are many people who believe in the existence of races; many
people, including some who have tried to stop believing and failed.

There also is, a large and growing body of information about the genetics of
the human species, which asserts that we are all of one "race" - the
human race (see on the web: allrelated.syr). There are no scientifically
discernible groups of humans neatly divisible into anything like the races
imagined by those that I call racists: anyone who uses the term race, or any
of its various labels. Thus, by my approach, a lot of people are racists. Yet,
that ought to take the sting out of the term "racist" since there
are so many. Racism is cultural silliness that is exploited by malevolent people.

There are magnificent, clarifying
statements in the spheres of sociology, anthropology and even political science.
Had enough of us found and read and disseminated Dr. Bruce Hare's analysis in
the December 3, 1997 Post-Standard (page A21) calling for a "paradigm shift"
and for a "need to reframe the conversation, think differently about the
problem and migrate from calling for better race relations to calling for deracialization",
my essay might not have been necessary. Ten years later, the point must still
be made: there are no races!

What
About Social Constructs?
Some will say, "we know that there are no races as biological entities.
Still, there are these 'social constructs' - black, white or Asian, African
American, Latino." The implication is that we must conform to these 'constructs'.
However, while the signs of the Zodiac are social constructs, we no longer foster
those categories. Political parties and even political leanings are social constructs
yet we don't often insist on labeling, or being labeled according to those categories.
Furthermore, most social constructs are not the basis for institutionalized
prejudice.

However, the real problem with accepting
race terms as "social constructs" is that they don't behave like social
constructs. We allow them into our heads and those social constructs take on
the characteristics of biological entities. Remember how much difficulty we
had when Tiger Woods first introduced us to the social construct of "Cablanasian?"
We resisted the assertion of his new social construct, treating it more like
biological heresy.

Try
Ethnicity
Human nature being what it is, we probably would do well to provide some sane
substitute for race - for racialized thinking - a transitional object, a pacifier,
if you will. I offer ethnicity. True it is already in (mis)use in our culture.
However, it is so awkwardly and infrequently used that I believe it can be appropriated
for this better use. We all have ethnicities and we already refer to them quite
a bit: French Catholic, New England Yankee, Hispanic, or better, Caribbean Hispanic
or South American Hispanic, Jewish, or better, secular Jew or Hasidic Jew, African
American, New Orleans Creole, Southeast Asian, or better Cambodian. There is
much that we don't know about ethnic groups, and might be delighted to learn.

One thing I have learned is that
this task of deracialization requires patience - patience with others and patience
with oneself. So, figure out your ethnicity, maybe interview some of your family
elders, as you've been meaning to do. Being "white", or for that matter,
being "black" has squeezed a lot of the beauty out of our collective
heritages. Find out who you are and offer your colorful ethnicity instead of
your nonexistent "race" when asked. Be patient with yourself when
you are awkward bringing forth this new identity. "Roman" wasn't built
in a day. Be patient with others who haven't read, or thought of this topic.
We are all, to some degree, hostages to "our" culture. So, be patient
and yet be determined to be part of the solution to the problem of racialized
thinking. I am your brother. Let's be patient and determined.

Karl is a
retired psychiatrist with broad experience in mental health care for prisoners
and poor people.